ABOUT THIS ALBUM

Album Notes

On May 23rd, 2008, Katie woke up in her New Zealand apartment to the sound of a bird singing outside her window. That same day, Phil went to a clinic in Germany to see about fixing a nagging cough. Mitch took his son fishing in Whitehorse. Drew went to a department store in Tokyo. It was, on the surface, a normal day for all of them, but one crucial difference was linking these people, along with others around the world: they were all helping to make the new album by Toronto-based electronic musician A.M.

For his fourth independently-released album, A.M. invited friends, family and fans to record audio of whatever they happened to be doing on May 23rd, 2008, and send him the results. These clips were woven into his songs in a variety of ways: the birdsong that awoke Katie from New Zealand floats over airy plucked guitars on the lead track, “Good Morning”; the frantic “Preskription” is a dance track composed almost entirely of the sounds of doors slamming, patients coughing, and phones ringing in the German clinic. Taken as a whole, however, the results are much more than musical gimmickry. Featuring A.M.’s signature mix of samples, live instruments and found sounds, Let’s Spend the Day Together, is an atmospheric, eclectic snapshot of a day in the life of humankind.

For A.M., (also known as elementary school teacher Andrew Moore) using found sounds as part of the creative process is nothing new. On Underground (2006), he used audio of Toronto’s subway system, and for Today Is (2008) samples were pulled from years of family home video. “Those were very personal projects, which basically involved me either recording hours of audio myself, or digging through hours of audio looking for clips. The idea of inviting other people to record their own lives was exciting for me…it made the album more of a public project, more of a collaboration.”

For a solo project, Let’s Spend the Day Together certainly has its share of collaborators. Aside from the project’s participants, a variety of musical guests provide the wide variety of instrumentation (horns, sax, flute, organ, voice, turntables) that rounds out A.M.’s electro-acoustic sound.

Fittingly, Let’s Spend the Day Together was released exactly one year after the project began: May 23rd, 2009.

Do you ever have an album that you want to listen to over and over again?
Do you ever feel that way after the first 2 minutes of the first track on the album?

"Let's Spend the Day Together" is the new album by the Toronto based Electronic Musician A.M. (aka Andrew Moore, Elementary School Teacher) and it evoked those exact emotions in me.

I first heard from A.M. on a CBC Radio 3 podcast, I believe it was "Shoulder Pads and Shiny Shoes" off of "Today Is..", an album sampling years of home video. I ordered two of his albums within a week and was instantly in love with them.

The new album took a different approach from his previous two (Underground was released in 2006 and featured samples from Toronto's subway) in that A.M. asked for material, rather then collecting it on his own.

He asked anyone in the world to record the audio of whatever they were doing on May 23rd, 2008 and send it to him. The result, released on May 23rd, 2009, is "Let's Spend the Day Together."

Download "Preskription"

And what a result it is. From a cloudy Montreal morning with More or Les ("Party in the Bathroom") to Smoothie Day at a highschool in Toronto ("Breakfast Club") to cutting wood in West Lake ("First Cut") to the announcement of Canada's best record store with Grant Lawrence ("True Patriot Groove"), this album takes you through the day of 14 strangers who are all now connected by one artist. Through his skillful use of samples A.M. has managed to make even the most menial task like picking up a prescription (see above linked song) sound spectacular.

One of my favourite things about A.M. is his range in style. Sure it's all electronic, relying heavily on samples and beats, but it conveys so much more through the variation in styles. One song sounds ready for the club, while the next seems like it would fit perfectly as I fall asleep, or drive down a country road, or am on a patio with a group of friends.

This album is spectacular. I was very nervous when I received the pack in the mail today, I actually waited to listen until the end of the day. Within the first minute I knew I had nothing to worry about. My expectations were high, but they were undoubtedly met. This album will be in my CD Player and iPod, played on my patio, in my kitchen and in my car all summer long.

Billing its sound as “Electro-acoustic party music,” A.M.’s latest CD, “Let’s Spend the Day Together” is all that and more. Not to be confused with American singer-songwriter AM, this Toronto-based performer has assembled an album that is well crafted with electronic soundscapes, “found sounds”, samples, and last but not least, sheer sonic invention, that is as intriguing as it is musically satisfying. Tying the project together are real-life samples provided by people from all over the world, intended to represent a “snapshot of a day in the life of humankind.” It’s a concept that unfolds with the ease and naturalness only an accomplished musician / DJ could pull off. Weaving these samples throughout the album, the result is a combustible mix of instrumentals variously built on both synthesizer and acoustic instrumentation, alternately lush and lyrical, primal and orchestral. Each tune is crafted with a keen eye towards melody and dynamics, and utilizes chord and aural changes that keep the proceedings both fresh and forward moving. While A.M.’s latest CD, “Let’s Spend the Day Together” is, in fact, an album perfect for a party / club setting, there is so much going on here that only multiple listens will render full appreciation, and ultimately reveal the depth of compositions and the superb musicianship of the artist and his collaborators.

Session Expiration Warning

Session Expiration

We need to talk.

The web browser you're using to surf the web is so old it’s embarrassing. But hey, we hope you consider us a friend, the kind of friend you can count on to tell you when there's spinach stuck between your teeth. So here it goes: every time you surf the web with that antiquated web browser it’s like you have spinach in your teeth. Every time you get online, spinach!

Look, we don't want you to be the butt of any more jokes when the sites you visit don't load or function properly. So please - for your own sake - click on one of the links for your preferred browser below, and get that spinach out of your teeth for good.